MPs and ministers’ wages are too low to draw talented people to politics, Nationalist Party deputy leader Mario de Marco said yesterday.
He insisted the situation was not a happy one because anybody interested in serving the country had to put his mind at rest that remuneration was adequate.
“Let us have the courage to solve this once and for all... our country deserves and needs to attract the best talent,” Dr de Marco told the PN general council at the close of its first session.
He posited the question within the context of the government’s decision to appoint backbenchers to executive roles in various public authorities, which was a way of increasing their income without raising the parliamentary honoraria.
Dr de Marco said this was wrong and the PN had to propose measures to ensure stricter separation between the three organs of the State: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.
Our country deserves and needs to attract the best talent
He called for a debate on whether MPs should become full timers, which he was not yet convinced about.
Dr de Marco hit out at Labour’s broken promises, stating that meritocracy was replaced with “Muscatocracy”.
“People in the civil service have no hope of advancing unless they form part of [Joseph] Muscat’s inner core,” he said.
Transparency had also been thrown out of the window, with the Home Affairs Ministry still refusing to publish two inquiry results.
Dr de Marco said the feeling was growing that there was a “free for all” in the country with no political accountability.
Citing the case of Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli’s illegal house works (see page 5), he said that those within the inner circle could do as they please.
On the shooting incident involving Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia’s driver, Dr de Marco said this was not a case of a police officer using excessive force: “This was the minister’s driver, hand-picked by him.”
He insisted Dr Mallia had to shoulder responsibility for the mistakes and resign.
It was unacceptable for him to issue a statement full of lies on the night of the incident and then hold a press conference on the morrow to defend his driver.
“Even if we give [Dr Mallia] the benefit of the doubt and accept that he had no communication with his staff and the mistakes were committed by them, the ultimate responsibility is his... the buck stops with him,” Dr de Marco said.
Referring to next week’s parliamentary debate on the Budget estimates of the Energy Ministry, during which the minister is expected to give the new time frames for the construction of the power station, Dr de Marco said he expected the plan to be unveiled in a press conference.
“[Energy Minister] Konrad Mizzi should not hide behind parliamentary procedure and instead hold a press conference where journalists can ask about the timelines and the government’s energy plans,” he said.